Tic Tac Toe?
I Think Not!
Third, The vertical axis lines will help you keep
your camera level. Door jambs, windows, walls,
buildings, etc. won’t look they are falling in or out of
your photo if they go straight up and down instead
of tilting.
Your digital camera has one of the best tools for
improved pictorial composition and it probably goes
unused - the grid screen. Most digital cameras have
a user selectable grid screen feature as a menu
option. Depending upon your camera, it may be
black or white (as in the illustration below). If you
see the on screen grid as you view your subject
be assured that it will not show up as part of your
photo. If you use the grid, you will discover 3 great
benefits you never knew you had.
Using all three of these assets will automatically
improve the composition of your photos - you’ll like
your photos better, and will be prouder of them.
You’ll be even more proud when others compliment
your pictures.
How Long is Your ... Zoom?
The great majority of amateur photographers use
cameras with 3X zoom lenses (all discussions of
zoom lenses in this article refer to optical zooms).
This means that as the zoom lens is adjusted, its
angle is modified by a factor of 3. Numerically, this
means that a zoom lens from 3mm to 9mm and
25mm to 75mm are both 3X zooms. The lower
number always refers to the widest view the lens
can see (widest angle); the higher number the
narrowest view (most telephoto). The numbers
themselves are not the actual angles, but indicate
a ratio.
First, you’ve been shown time and time again that
having your subject dead center in the picture is the
most static, boring place for it. In our western culture, the best places would be where the grid lines
intersect. This follows the Rule of Thirds as each of
the four points is a third of the way into the picture
from any edge. This is true for both horizontal and
vertical formats.
Second, you’ll be able to have straight, level horizons in all your photos. Having horizons that appear to go uphill or downhill always looks silly and
distorts other items in the picture. Because your
brain makes horizons look level through your eyes,
your camera is not that smart.
By popular convention, a 50mm lens sees about
what your eye can concentrate on (discounting
peripheral vision). A 35mm lens is about the slightest wide angle available - for some people it is not
even considered to be a wide angle. Any lens which
sees at a narrower angle than a 50mm lens sees
is referred to as telephoto. The higher the number,
the narrower the angle, the more telephoto. As an
example, a 100mm lens sees about half the angle
of a 50mm, a 200mm lens sees about a quarter.
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Cameras with interchangeable lenses typically
come with a “starter” 3X zoom, with moderate wide
angle to very slight telephoto if they come with any
lens at all.
Snap Shots
If the camera is supplied body only, you can select
just about any lens you want. In recent years lens
makers have designed and manufactured excellent, affordable 10X zoom lenses encompassing
both wide angle and true telephoto angles.
Eric has completed the syllabus for this fall’s workshops. Please refer to the attached schedule.
Tickets for the entire season will be available to
the public on August 25, but as Newsletter subscribers that are available to you beginning today
Compact camera (with permanently built in zoom
lenses) no longer are limited to 3X - 5X zoom lenses and zooms lacking wide angle. Fuji, Olympuss
and Nikon each offer small cameras with astound-ing 18X to 20X zooms. Not only are these camerass
fantastic for tourism, but also they are extremelyy
e
versatile family cameras. Think of it, with one little
camera you can take a picture of the entire familyy
at the Thanksgiving table or a sports photo where
e
the player dominates the picture instead of just be-ing a small speck in the background.
The Nikon P80 with 18X zoom, incidently, will have
e
$30 Instant Savings (in store rebate) between
n
August 17 -23. For additional information on this
by calling or visiting Madison PhotoPlus or the
Photo Summit.
fine camera, go to http://www.nikonusa.com/
Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Digital-Camera/26114/
COOLPIX-P80.html.
So we can all feel old... Kodak and Fuji recently sent new price catalogs for their 35mm films.
These catalogs used to be 30-40 pages each. A
complete selection of both companies offerings
now can fit on one side of one sheet of letter size
paper!
One of the most exciting things about these high
ratio zooms is that there’s nothing new to learn to
be able to use them. Everything works the same
way as before!
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Madison PhotoPlus
During July, Lynne, Bret, Rob and Jerry went back
to Photo School at the Photographic Research
Organization. It was long hours, workshop after
workshop, living photography all day long for close
to a week. As this year continues, we’ll be sharing
what we learned with you.
40 Main St., Madison, NJ 07940
v.973.966.2900; f.973.377.1458
www.madisonphoto.com
Eric, Jerry, Joy, Julie, Marie, Mario,
Molly, Rob , Sybil & Vincent
While there, during an afternoon thunderstorm,
Jerry captured these images with a point and shoot
7X zoom camera.
the PhotoSummit
Thanks for inviting us into your day. Enjoy making
your photos, and we hope to see you soon.
383 Springfield Ave., Summit, NJ 07901
v. 908.273.7427; f.908.277.0218
www.photosummit.com
Bret, John P,, John T,,
Lynne, & Mark
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